Creamy Tomato Spinach Pasta

Saturday was date night. 

We saw a movie where I only snapped at one person who insisted on texting during all the most harrowing scenes. 

I'll call that a victory!

Then we spent way too much on a wonderful dinner:

~ a gimlet ~

~ caesar salad (tried anchovies for the first time) ~

~ sourdough bread ~

~ onion ring tower appetizer (with three dipping sauces) ~

~ Layer Cake merlot ~

~ lobster macaroni and cheese ~

~ grilled asparagus ~

~ a full pound of medium-rare kansas city strip ~

and

~ chocolate velvet cake ~

and that was just what I ordered.

No, I'm not kidding.

Luckily I had the sense to bring a lot of that home for breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

No, I'm not kidding - I definitely had cake for breakfast.

Everything was wonderful; however, by Sunday night, we felt it was best to eat something a little less "meaty."  

I had a batch of Easy Tomato Basil Cream sauce in the freezer and figured this would be the perfect time to use it. It's a vegan recipe that uses cashews to make the sauce creamy. I don't know why that works, but it does, and I don't question it.

I also had some mushroom and spinach pasta "sauce" in the freezer too, but I had my doubts about it. It really wasn't a sauce. It was more of spinach and mushrooms in olive oil.

So I did the only logical thing - combine the two. We now had a delicious vegan, creamy pasta sauce that was also full of vegetables. Totally hidden too - I'm thinking that may help people trying to get their kids to eat more veggies.

I've started making smoothies in the morning and I always add a huge handful of spinach. It gets completely blended it and you can't taste it at all. So I have a new theory that you can pretty much blend spinach into anything and you won't even notice.

I also veggie pasta. Have you used this stuff? There is a carrot variety too. It's really delicious. 

(not entirely - I also used wheat penne and wheat macaroni).

Ingredients (adapted from Oh She Glows)

1 large tomato, chopped

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons white wine

1 cup fresh basil, chopped

2 cups fresh spinach

8 ounces mushrooms

1 large onion, chopped

3 cups dry pasta

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. 
2. Add tomatoes, cashews, water, and tomato paste to blender and blend until smooth.
3. Heat olive oil in medium skillet over low heat. Add garlic, onions, and mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes. Add spinach and saute until wilted.
4. Add spinach, garlic, onion, mushroom mix to blender and blend again. This step is optional if you want the veggies to stay chunky. I wanted a smooth sauce with the veggies "hidden."
5. Pour sauce to skillet and heat over medium heat, stir, and allow to simmer. Add salt and pepper and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Add wine to thing out, stirring occasionally.
6. Serve over pasta and enjoy a creamy sauce without dairy!